variations of moonlight

I have previously posted about my severe disappointment that CBS canceled my vampire PI show “Moonlight.” (Moment of silence here, in remembrance of Mick, or in hatred of CBS, fielder’s choice.)

I love getting really involved in a story, which I certainly have done with Moonlight. But lately this one has yielded some unexpected insight on taking apart a story to see what elements provide what effect. The reason for this: (1) the poor thing went through so many iterations, formats, creative visions, and creative people, and, (2) thanks to the wonder of the internet, we have access to them (some of them, anyway). There is the first part of the original novel, by Trevor Munson, upon which the original pilot screenplay was based. And there is the original treatment (20 minutes or so of unconnected scenes from the original screenplay, filmed to get the execs interested) to contrast to the 16 episodes of the show as it aired. For a quickie version of that, here is a promo for the original pilot treatment and a promo for the show as it was finally aired.

What a difference! From a gritty, grim, low-rent New York version, to a glamorous, sexed up, stylish Los Angeles version. To go along with the new look, new aesthetic, and new city, they got an all new cast, retaining only the lead, Alex O’loughlin.

I am fascinated by all of this! The story changed, bit by bit, as it moved through various forces both creative and financial, and who knows what else. So many cooks in the kitchen!

Here is an example of what I mean. In the original version, the vamps see themselves scary-distorted in mirrors. In the final show, they don’t. This detail may have been dropped for financial reasons, for all I know, but the effect in the story of changing this one element, turns out to be important. The problem with vamps and mirrors comes from the idea that the mirror image reveals something integral about the vamp’s nature–the vamp doesn’t show up in mirrors in the old Dracula-style stories because those vampires don’t have souls. In the original version of Moonlight, their mirror image is distorted to show that there is some problem here, the vampire is a distorted creature. In other words, there is some inherent, metaphysical darkness about them. Taking that small element, the weird-mirror-reflection, out of the story, removes, or at least reduces, this question of “are there creatures that are inherently evil?” Is being a vampire a spiritual/moral issue? Or is being a vampire a food-chain issue? In which case it isn’t a moral problem–a BIG difference in the heart of the story at hand.

There are tons of these variables in every story, of course. And each time they changed one in Moonlight, they revealed something about what that variable did in the equation. I think this is so cool.

On a slight tangent, there is talk, at times, of the importance of having an original idea, of not being derivative. No doubt, these are good things. But I’ve also noticed, especially in the glutted vampire genre, that great stories can be told with the same old plots and the same old elements. It would seem that how the elements are used, and how well they are used, may be more important to the effectiveness of the story, than the originality of the elements themselves. Sunshine by Robin McKinley, is a perfect example of a great writer taking the same story, a vampire, a girl, a bad guy to kill, and telling it in a way so fresh and intriguing that it matters not at all that the basic building blocks have been done to the point of embarrassment. I loved reading Sunshine, for many reasons–it’s a great book! Highly recommended. But partly I was interested in it because it affirmed that it less important to be original, as it is to be true.

To go for the big literary example, Pride and Prejudice is just another ‘will she marry the right guy?’ book. But shoot, if I had read a thousand of those and then read P&P, it would still be a revelation. I don’t know, but I would bet, that in the field of literature, if there are any earlier drafts or iterations of P & P available, people have studied and studied them to figure out how she did it, what variables she used, how changing this element or that ricocheted around in the novel, resulting in such an effective story.

At this point, in my own writing, I go ahead and assume I’m being derivative. I just try to do a good job of it.